Street Artists Use Ms. Marvel to Fight Real-Life Intolerance

Street artists in San Francisco are using Kamala Khan (aka Marvel's Ms. Marvel) to block out bus ads from the "American Freedom Defense Initiative" that compare Islam to Nazism. The art pasted over the ads features Kamala saying things like, "Calling all bigotry busters," and, "Free speech isn't a license to spread hate." The protest was organized by the group Bay Area Art Queers Unleashing Power, which runs the Facebook page where photos of the improved ads appeared, Street Cred - Advertising for the People.

The AFDI may have run up against an unstoppable force in Kamala Khan. While city buses are government property, making it difficult to limit what can appear on ads on them even when the content is hateful, street artists don't tend to follow the rules at all, given that they're often already breaking the law in some way.

The Facebook page Street Cred - Advertising for the People features photos of the revised ads:

Bigotry busters sprang into action, enlisting the help of Kamala Khan, a Marvel comics superhero. BAAQUP and Street Cred commend Marvel for taking a different road than Charlie Hebdo, using the power of comics for good.

“Just because you have the right to say something, doesn’t mean you should say it,” said J, one of the street artists who headed out to run down the buses on Sunday. “Free speech can still have a cost.”